Helga gets rich!
by Invader Krag
Summary: Aah, the interesting things that come out of my brain. This is the story of how Helga gets rich, and stuff, and things. (Man, I'm great at summaries...)
1. Chapter One

Well, here it is. My first HA story on FanFiction.Net…I've been waiting to do this, but never got around to it! I FINALLY DID IT! Well, here's the customary mumbo jumbo…  
I do not own anything related to Hey Arnold. Craig Bartlett, who is one of the most awesome human beings alive does, and I wouldn't dare steal it from him. IT'S HIS BABY, DANG IT!! ARG!!!  
Ok, I'm done. Here ya go!  
  
Chapter One  
  
BRRRRRRRRIIIING!!!!!!!   
  
"Alright class, you're dismissed. Oh, don't forget to do your "Special" Place project over the weeke-………..class?"  
  
Mr. Simmons stood alone in the classroom, his students having bolted out the door as soon as the bell rang.  
  
"Well! I guess they really like writing projects! What great kids…" Mr. Simmons said putting away his grade book.  
  
PS118 was completely devoid of students in a matter of minutes. Principal Wartz was in his office, playing with his animals (you didn't hear that from me), and all of the teachers were correcting homework, doing paperwork, etc.  
  
Anyway, in a vacant lot down the street (which was named Gerald Field) a group of fourth graders were playing baseball. Among them were Arnold, Gerald, Sid, Stinky, Helga, Sheena, Harold, Eugene and Curly.  
  
"Throw the ball, "pink boy"! I'm growin' old over here!" Helga yelled, crowding the plate.  
  
"Yeah, c'mon Harold!" Sid exclaimed.  
  
"Fine, ya' bunch o' wussies! Here it comes!" Harold said. He threw it, and it started spinning! It went straight for Helga, like a rocket, but she was ready.   
  
SLAM!!!  
  
The ball flew over the buildings and into the street on the other side!  
  
"YEE HAW!!!" Curly yelled. Helga ran around the bases and slid into home base.   
  
"That was great, Helga!" Arnold said.  
  
"I know football head! Of course it was!" Helga said cockily.  
  
"Whatever," Arnold said with a sigh. He walked back to the bench and waited to be up. Helga, however, ran around the corner of the lot and pulled out a locket with Arnold's picture inside. She got woozy just by looking at it.  
  
"Oh, Arnold! Why must I torment you day after day, while deep down in my heart I am giddily in love with everything about you? Why do I torture myself, by suppressing my feelings and acting like they don't exist? Why can't I just grit my teeth and tell you that I'm madly in love with you and that I want to spend the rest of my LIFE with you? Why, why, - "  
  
*wheeze, wheeze*  
  
SMACK!  
  
Brainy's glasses broke for the umpteenth time as he plummeted down to the ground. Helga rolled her eyes as she walked back to the game, shoving the locket far inside her pocket.   
Arnold was up to bat, and she yelled jeers and taunts at him, despite the fact that they were on the same team.  
  
"Hey, everyone! Arnold's up, you might want to MOVE IN!!" She yelled. Harold snickered and started his own teasing.  
  
"Oh, look, it's Aaaaaarnold! You widdle baaaaaby! You couldn't hit this ball if it was on a tee! HA!" Arnold squinted at him.  
  
"Just pitch it…" he mumbled. Harold raised his arm, pulled back, and -   
  
SCREEEEEEEECH!  
  
A fancy looking black limousine came to an abrupt stop, enraging the drivers behind him, who nearly rear-ended it. The driver stepped out and opened the back door, revealing a very rich looking man, with a black suit and a red tie on his neck. He held himself with an exceedingly dignified, and almost pompous manner. As he walked toward the group, they stared at him with wide eyes.  
  
"Where might I find a Miss Helga Geraldine Pataki? I have been told that this is where she would be." He said, annunciating every word perfectly. All eyes turned to Helga, who looked extremely dumbfounded. Taking the stares as an indicator, the man walked toward her and held out an envelope.  
  
"I was…sent…to give you this. I would strongly advise you to refrain from opening this in front of your classmates." He said, acting as if his time was much too precious for him to be used as a mere messenger. Helga took it in her hands, and he turned around toward his limo. He was gone as quickly as he had come.  
  
Helga wanted badly to open it, but obeyed the man's wishes and decided to wait until she was alone in her room. The rest of the kids were unusually quiet, except for Harold, who broke the silence by snorting with laughter.  
  
"Geraldine? HA!"  
  
"CAN IT, PINK BOY! Let's just get the game going, alright??"  
  
  
  
  
Woo! Wow, now I'm pooped. Well, I hope you like this story, cause there's got a lot more coming!  
  
-Invader Krag the Inimitable and Intolerable 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two  
  
As the game progressed, Helga thought more and more about the envelope. What could be inside of it? She nearly missed catching the ball as it zoomed over the plate while she thought about it. Was it a note? Was it money? She hoped it was the latter, Slaucens sounding pretty good right then. But then again, the former might be an even more valuable object…..who might it be from, and for what purpose?  
  
Helga shook her head. She'd find out soon enough….but perhaps not soon enough for her friends. When the game was over (Harold's team having won), everyone crowded around her once more.  
  
"So Heeeeelga, are you going to open your envelope?"  
  
"Not in front of YOU, Harold." She put stinging emphasis on the "H" in Harold. He shut up.  
  
"I think that Helga is doing the right thing. I mean, the guy wanted her to open it when she was alone, right?" Arnold, of course. Helga scoffed and stood up. She started walking away, smiling slightly.  
  
Harold crossed his arms and turned to Sid and Stinky. "Whatta you say we go find out what's in that letter, eh?" The two others nodded their heads emphatically. They set out to follow Helga, sneaking away from the others.  
  
Meanwhile, Helga was walking home. She looked at the envelope and decided only to open it when she was inside her room, safe and sound…..and alone.   
  
Maybe.  
  
Harold, Sid and Stinky slowly stalked her, eying her every move, craning their necks every time she took out the envelope to look at it. This became boring after a while, however, and they started trying to guess what was inside the envelope.  
  
"I think it's a wad of money!" Harold said, rubbing his hands together.   
  
"I think it's a note from a secret admirer…." Sid said, laughing.  
  
"Ew! Laike anyone would ever laike Heelga Pataki. Ise thinks it's a certificate for aaaall the lemon puddin's you can eat!" The other two boys stared at him. "What, a guy can dream, can't 'e?"   
  
The trip became increasingly boring as they went on, even though only a couple minutes had elapsed. Harold began to get angry.  
  
"Alright, I say we beat her to her house, and then when she comes, we jump her and take the envelope!" A chorus of "yeah!"s came from Sid and Stinky, and they hurried off to Helga's house.  
  
As they neared it, they saw a sign standing in front of the house. As they got even closer, they could almost read it, and when they reached it, their jaws dropped. The sign said: For Sale.  
  
"W-woah…man, how're we gonna tell Helga?" Sid asked. Harold stammered in reply:  
  
"We're not! I…I mean…how can we? We were never here…."  
  
"Aah, I gotcha! Let's go before she comes!" Stinky said, as they all ran off towards their own houses.  
  
They left just in time, because Helga showed up right at that moment, and her jaw did precisely the same thing as the boys' did. But even more so. She panicked, and ran up to the house, calling her parents' names.  
  
"Bob!! Miriam!!" She called. No one answered. She ran up to her room, now completely empty of everything that was once in it.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She screamed. "How can this be? All my books of poems, clothes, my shrine, EVERYTHING IS GONE!!!!" She ran into the other rooms of the house as well, and finally came to a crashing halt when she ran straight into the counter in the kitchen.  
  
She panted heavily, and sat down on the cold floor. Now, she thought, was as good a time as any to open the envelope.  
  
  
  
  
Well it wasn't exactly the LONGEST chapter, but I finally have a flow. Deeeefinately.  
  
-I. Krag 


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three  
  
Dear Helga -   
I sold the Beeper Emporium to a Beepertek, and the fools made me a millionaire! They offered  
it to me for 23 million, and I was surprised, and stood there like an idiot, and then they took it as a "no" and raised it  
to 30! 30 Million smackers, Helga! I put the house up for sale (you know, get about 50 thousand   
more bucks!), moved everything, and we now live at this address:  
  
18938 63 Ave. N  
  
-Bob  
  
Helga could hardly believe it. Her family had become millionaires overnight, and they would never have to work hard at anything ever again!  
  
"Wait until I tell everyone, they're gonna be so jealous!!! HAH! Then I can rub it in Rhonda's face...I'm in her league now....heh." Helga said to the empty kitchen. She left the house, said goodbye and good riddance, and ran towards the address on the note.   
  
  
  
Sid, Stinky, Harold, Arnold and Gerald huddled around each other by the jungle gym before school, speaking in hushed tones.  
  
"Hey, did you hear? Someone moved into the old mansion on 63rd!" Sid said excitedly.  
  
"Yeah, and I heard that a fourth grader done moved in there too!" Stinky said. Arnold looked puzzled.  
  
"I wonder who it is? It can't be anyone WE know, or else we probably would have heard about it already."  
  
"Well, they may not be here yet. Just wait for someone with fancy clothes that doesn't usually wear fancy clothes!" Sid said, as if it was obvious. They waited for a long time, and no one came that looked unusually well dressed. Helga came soon, dressed as usual, and sat down next to them.  
  
"So, buckos, what'cha lookin' at?" She said amiably.  
  
"Someone moved into the old mansion. We're looking for someone with new clothes." Sid said without looking at her. Helga chuckled silently, not wanting to tell them just yet.  
  
By the time school was over, Mr. Simmons had bored them to death with his tips on writing descriptively. They slogged out of the room and into the hallways, however Helga stayed behind, talking to Mr. Simmons, who looked quite astonished.  
  
Outside in the hallway, Arnold was waiting for Helga. "Hey, what was that about? Mr. Simmons looked really surprised!" He said to her. She glared down at him.  
  
"Like it's any of YOUR business, football head!" Arnold rolled his eyes.  
  
"Alright, Helga, you're right. Just curious…" They left, and got on the bus together. Helga sat next to Phoebe in the middle, and Arnold sat next to Gerald behind them. Gerald couldn't help looking at Phoebe once in a while, so they sat behind them.  
  
"Hey Pheebs." Helga said, tiredly, setting her books on her lap.  
  
"Konnichiwa, Helga san. Daijyoubu desuka?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm alright, just sorta tired. A lot happened yesterday, and I was very happy this morning.." Phoebe nodded. She found out about Helga moving yesterday afternoon.  
  
They soon passed the spot where Helga usually gets off, and Arnold realized that she wasn't getting off. "Hey, Helga, you missed your spot!" She said nothing. A couple minutes later they stopped at 63rd, the mansion in plain sight, and Helga stood up. Arnold, Gerald, Sid, Stinky, and Harold all gaped at her in surprise, as she got off the bus and walked up the grand walkway towards her home.  
  
"Wow." 


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four  
  
  
  
It was more than she had imagined. It was all under construction, but the size of the house was amazing. It had to have been bigger than a downtown city block, and had more than 20 rooms. It made her old house look like a mobile home. She thought to herself, wondering how much of the 30 million he had to spend on remodeling the old mansion, and hoped that Bob would have the sense to think about money management.  
  
She wandered around the house almost aimlessly, but underneath she was actually looking for her own room. Maybe Bob had forgotten her. He usually does. She played over a scene in her mind:  
  
"Oh, Olga. Where've you been, young lady?"  
  
"At SCHOOL, Bob. Where else would I be on a WEEK DAY??"  
  
"Oh, right. Say, I forgot to build you a room, but you can camp out with the monitor lizard in the dog house."  
  
"Fine dad."  
  
"Olga, you're home!"  
  
"Oh, yes daddy, I am home! Oh, baby sister, how are you?"  
  
"Just FINE, except I have to live in a DOG HOUSE."  
  
"Oh, that reminds me Olga, your room is this way! I built it especially for you! It's three times as big as your old room, and has a Jacuzzi, and…"  
  
Yeah right.  
  
Bob wouldn't forget her like that…or would he?  
  
Tired of thinking about it, Helga looked around some more. Right before she gave up, she found a door with a note on it, addressed to her. It said "Helga - This is your room. Hope you like it. -Miriam".  
  
"It figures, BOB would never bother to write TWO notes to me in one week!" She opened the door, and saw an amazing sight. There were boxes of her stuff in the middle of the floor, and about 400 square feet of floor. And it was all hers.  
  
  
  
"Hey, short man, what's shakin'?" Grandpa asked as he walked into the kitchen, carrying a glass of water. Arnold was eating Grandma's latest concoction, which Grandpa had managed to avoid, having dropped it all on the floor for Abner. No one in the boarding house knows what it is.  
  
"Well Grandpa, Helga moved!"  
  
"We-ell, that's great! She'll be out of your hair forever, you'll never have to hear the words "football" and "head" in one sentence ever again, unless you have a freak accident while walking in the park, that is."  
  
"No, Grandpa, she's still in town, she just moved into the mansion on 63rd." Grandpa nearly choked on the water he was drinking.  
  
"THE MANSION ON 63rd??? How the heck did Bob get that much money??" Arnold shook his head.  
  
"I have no idea. It's just…weird, that's all."  
  
"What's weird about it?? If WE had that much money you wouldn't think it was weird!"  
  
"No, I guess you're right Grandpa…but I wonder what she'll be like now. Money can change people."  
  
"But what do you care? I mean, you hate her, right, it shouldn't matter to ya how the money affects her!"  
  
"I guess you're right, Grandpa." Arnold said, still contemplating anyhow. Tomorrow was going to be a very interesting day. Arnold grabbed the phone and called Gerald.  
  
"Hey, Gerald."  
  
"Hey Arnold. Did you see where Helga got off the bus??"  
  
"Yeah, you couldn't miss it."  
  
"I don't believe it. She became a millionaire overnight, man! Pheobe told me all about her house - "  
  
Arnold thought he could almost HEAR him blushing.  
  
"…and she said they were remodeling, and that she had to spend the night at her house last night. I wonder what her room looks like….it's probably HUGE! Wish I had a mansion…"  
  
"Yeah. Me too. So what are you doing for your "special place" project?"  
  
"I don't know yet. Still gotta figure that out."  
  
"Me too. Hey Gerald?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Why do we have such pointless conversations?"  
  
"I don't know, man, I don't know."  
  
"Alright, bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Then Arnold hung up the phone, and went to bed. 


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter 5  
  
  
Throughout the rest of the night, workers and movers walked through the hallways of the mansion. Helga wandered around the house, peeking into the various rooms and closets, becoming familiar with her new home. She found many hiding places, along with places to stash her things. It began to dawn on her just how much of a change this was going to be, and she decided to make it into a good change. I mean, how bad can a four-story mansion be?  
  
Their yard had a very large garden, and a big fountain. Helga personally thought it was a bit gaudy, and looked quite out of place in the low garden. It depicted two fish back to back, spitting water out of their mouths. It wasn't too original, but Helga figured Bob wasn't really a big art critic.  
  
Miriam walked out of the mansion and came up to Helga, carrying a rather large smoothie. Helga shifted uneasily from foot to foot, waiting for Miriam to say something. After a short moment of silence, she did speak, and she sounded much more at ease than she had since Helga could remember.  
  
"Ah, Helga….isn't this great? No cramped quarters, no worrying about house payments….it's like heaven." Helga thought this was a bit too big of a comment for her to say, but she didn't want to ruin her moment of happiness. "I mean, we're pretty much financially secure for the rest of our lives! You can go to whatever college you want, and Bob and I can live the rest of our lives without worry."  
  
Miriam let out a huge sigh as she put her hand on Helga's shoulder. Helga flinched, and pulled away. Miriam didn't seem to notice, lost in her own world. She sat on a bench and fell asleep at her smoothie. Helga shook her head and went back inside.  
  
When she found her room once again, there were much more things inside, things that didn't even previously belong to her. A large sleigh bed now sat inside, along with large dressers and a nightstand, complete with a reading light. No more late night flashlight poetry. She looked at the large dressers, and wondered if she'd even have enough of her usual outfit to fill even ONE drawer. Maybe they'd get her new clothes to fill them.  
  
It was getting dark, and she had to get some sleep. One thing was sure, however. No matter how differently people treated HER, she was going to stay the same Helga G. Pataki.  
  
  
Sometimes, people become different people when they get their hands on money. In other cases, their peers' attitudes change, but the person's attitude doesn't. The second was the case with Helga, as she was soon going to find out.  
  
The next day at school was an enlightening one. She saw her classmates in a way that they have never been before. Everyone was acting different. They acted as if she was something worth looking at for once, and they were mysteriously friendly with her. Even the 6th grade girls looked at her like one of their own. That was a change. Helga was no fool, however, she saw through it, and she beat it down with her fist. Helga was no different, and they were going to understand it, even if she had to pound it into them.  
  
The first one to approach her was Phoebe. Fortunately, Phoebe was truly her friend, and treated her no differently, and was determined to help her through the day.  
  
"Helga, rumors have spread throughout the whole school. Everyone knows that you're rich, and I have noticed certain behavioral differences in our classmates. You may want to watch out, some might…suck up to you, as the phrase goes."  
  
"Don't worry Pheebs, I've got it under control." She held up her fist, and Phoebe smiled. Not at the thought that she was going to inflict pain into her fellow students, but because it meant that Helga would not change along with them.  
  
Sid walked up to her before school started, smiling sweetly. "Hey, Helga, how's it goin'?" he said, nudging her elbow. Helga scowled. "Say, I heard some rumors, and me and my friends-"  
  
"Oh, you mean the ones that I have been equal to and have known their names since preschool? THOSE friends?" Sid flinched. He regained his composure, and continued.  
  
"Well….yeah. We wanted to know if you were really rich, and if so, how you DID get the money. And I'm open for Saturday night…" Helga gave him a piercing look, and pushed him into a nearby locker. She chuckled, and walked to Mr. Simmons' class.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
So...how am I doing? I promise, I'll move quicker. I've been going slowly, and the next chapter will have some new twists.  
-I. Krag 


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six  
  
  
Helga couldn't help feeling like she was being watched as she walked into Mr. Simmons's class and took her seat. In fact, everyone WAS staring at her, watching her every move, as if she might suddenly whip out a $100 and share it with them. Of course, Arnold, the polite person he was, was not staring, but couldn't help looking once in a while. When Mr. Simmons began talking, however, eyes gradually moved to watch him, instead of Helga. She was glad for it.  
  
"Well class, I hope by now you've picked your "special place", because I want you to start your rough drafts today! You can do your project in any form of writing you wish, be it a poem or a regular old paper. I'm not going to talk anymore, because I want to give you all the time you need to do your projects." Immediately after he stopped talking, everyone else burst into conversation, and one of them stuck out from the rest:  
  
"Hey, Sid. I bet you can't figure out what Heeeelga is going to do for HER special place project!"  
  
"Yeah, of course I can. SHE'S gonna do it on her big, fancy maaansion on the hill!"  
  
"Ooh, right! OF COURSE! I guess she thinks she's better than us now that she's RICH, huh?"  
  
"Yeah, Harold! She's so high and mighty. C'mon everyone! Let's all bow down to Helga G. Pataki, our new ruler!"  
  
"HA!"  
  
Helga grit her teeth. Not only was it insulting, it was pathetic. It was so obvious what they were trying to do, and they couldn't even do it right. Of course, the whole class shrugged them off, but you could tell that they got the point. They planted the idea in their heads, and now it would be even harder to convince them that she is still the same Helga. She wanted to punch them. Hard.  
  
Unfortunately, Mr. Simmons got there first, and gave them detention for rude misbehavior. They shut up after that. Helga tried to pay attention to her project, so that she could finish it before the weekend.  
  
But what was her special place? It wasn't the mansion, that's for sure. She hadn't even gotten used to the idea of being rich yet, let alone the mansion. But what could it be…Dr. Bliss's office? Nah, there were better places, even though she loved going there. Maybe…her old room? Getting closer. Arnold's house? Wait, Mr. Simmons is READING these…and that's not good anyway. What could there possibly be? Maybe he'd let her write a paper on the fact that she doesn't have one. She sighed, and brought out her straw to fire a spitball at Arnold's head.  
  
It was right on target. Arnold looked around and glared as usual. She sighed again. At least nothing with Arnold had changed, even if it was a poor connection.  
  
"Oh, Class! I forgot! There's news of a dance coming up next Friday! We still don't know where it will be, but I thought I'd tell you about it." Mr. Simmons noticed that not many people were listening, so he sat back down. Then his head shot up. He motioned for Helga to come up to his desk.  
  
"Helga…I was thinking. About the dance, do you…have any ideas on where the dance should be? I was…thinking about maybe having it in your mans - er - house…?" Helga was surprised, but mumbled a quick 'I'll think about it' and went back to her seat.  
  
So even Mr. Simmons had changed too. Trying to take advantage of her new position in the mansion when even SHE hadn't gotten used to it yet. The nerve of him! How dare he act as if it was "no big deal"! Oh yeah, sure, let's just not let her have any time to herself in her house, and have the whole school come over to mess it up! Oh, maybe she was overreacting. Maybe - then she noticed Arnold looking back at her. Her heart missed a beat. She unclenched her fist, which was turning white, and looked up.  
  
"What do YOU want, Football Head?" he just sighed.  
  
"I was wondering what that was about with Mr. Simmons, and why you look so mad." He said. I growled.  
  
"None of your business. Mr. Simmons is just…never mind. Shouldn't you be doing your project?"  
  
"I don't know where to do it on."  
  
"You and me both."  
  
"Huh, I thought-"  
  
"What, you thought that I'd naturally just do it on my new mansion? Huh? Is that what you thought? I'm sick and tired of everyone assuming things! No one knows me well enough, not even Phoebe, to predict or assume what I'm like or what I'll do. Especially YOU, Arnold!" Arnold shrank back, and gave her an angry but almost hurt look.  
  
"Actually, I was just going to say that I thought you were maybe going to do it on Gerald Field. That's all." And then he turned away, cutting off the conversation. Helga slumped down in her chair. Once again, she took another step farther away from him than she was before. 


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven  
  
  
  
Helga needed to clear her head. She was becoming fussy over nothing, and overreacting at everything. Somehow she was being overwhelmed. She figured that it was because of her new riches, but that's why she was headed towards the bridge. She needed to…sort things out.  
  
It was getting dark. Her parents didn't care where she was, as long as she came back early enough to go to school. She laughed briefly, but it was an empty laugh. For some reason, every time she came here she was put into a sort of depressing but thoughtful mood. She sat down and hung her feet down above the river. She sat there for hours.  
  
Helga never remembered falling asleep. All she remembered was waking up and thinking it still a dream. Arnold was sitting next to her on the bridge, looking just like she was before she fell asleep.  
  
"Hey, Arnold…what're you doing here?" He looked startled, as if he hadn't heard me yawning and waking up. He was obviously lost in thought.  
  
"Oh…Helga. You woke up. I was just…" Arnold trailed off.  
  
"Don't go on. I can see it in your eyes." She said glumly. He was silent.  
  
"Why are you here?"  
  
"Well, if I figure correctly, the same reason as you."  
  
"What, your -"  
  
"Bob and Miriam, yes. If you can call them parents. Now that they're rich, they're happy, even Miriam. And when they're happy, they get along too well. I see them even less. It's good too, or else they might, oh no, actually have to look at me. Yeah, well I don't care. They can go off on their own and leave me in a dumpster for all I care, because that's what they've been doing all my life. They probably think they deserve the Nobel Prize for buying a house and making me a big room. Maybe they figure that's enough to make up for how much I haven't seen them the past few days." Arnold sat quietly for a second before replying.  
  
"Well, you kind of contradicted yourself in that monologue Helga. You seem to hate them with a passion, but then get mad at them for leaving you alone." Helga grumbled silently.  
  
"Why do you think I'm here in the first place? I'm trying to sort things out. I figure, like Don Henley said, "What the head makes cloudy, the heart makes very clear." I…also have some other things on my mind too."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Well, for one…just think back to today."  
  
"Ah. I see."  
  
"I can't figure out what I'm feeling about anything lately."  
  
"Well, the way I see it, you were so worried about how everyone was going to react that you blew it out of proportion. And it didn't help that you were right about them in the first place…by the way, what DID happen with Mr. Simmons?" Helga sighed.  
  
"Oh, he changed too, Arnold. He asked to hold the dance in my mansion." Arnold had a confused expression on his face.  
  
"Mr. Simmons? He said that? Well…that was kind of rude."  
  
"Yep. Then I went back to my seat, and…" Helga suddenly remembered what took place next. "…oh. Right. Hey…Arnoldo. I'm -"  
  
"It's alright. I know." They sat together for quite some time, very quiet. Then Helga spoke.  
  
"So Arnold. Do you come here often?" Arnold noticed a hint of concern in her voice, and was mildly surprised.  
  
"Well, yeah. Pretty much every other day. Can we talk about something else?" Helga backed off.  
  
"Sure, Arnold. Sure. Actually, I'd better be going soon…I need to get some sleep to greet the 'well wishers' at school tomorrow…" She emphasized "well wishers" with heavy sarcasm. Arnold nodded.  
  
"I'd better go too. Say, Helga…"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I think…this might have been good…for both of us. Do you want to…you know…meet here sometimes?" Arnold said. Helga smiled inwardly at his kindness, and the fact that she was helping him in some way.  
  
"Sure, Football Head. That would…be good." Then they walked away, both with their own concerns.  
  
As Helga walked back to her house, she realized how late it was. It had to be 12 o' clock, or later. She thought to herself some more, but this time about Arnold. Why does he torture himself by thinking about it so much? Or did something happen to awaken his sadness…? He would have told her if it was Bob, so what was it? Or maybe it wasn't one particular event. Maybe he was just in a bad mood.  
  
He was right though. She was feeling much better. Maybe this would be good for her, in more ways than one.  
  
  
  
  
This is becoming fun. Suggestions? Please review!  
-I. Krag 


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight  
  
  
  
Rhonda Wellington Lloyd sat in her luxurious living room, and she was painting her nails with the finest nail polish you could ever hope to buy. Yo Ernest was on her large screen television, and it was a bright, sunny day.  
  
Her father walked in, and Rhonda hardly looked up. "Pumpkin?"  
  
"Mm hmm"  
  
"I'm going golfing, and I expect it will be a long game. Are you alright by yourself for a few hours while your mother is away at her aerobics class?" Rhonda nodded, but then looked up curiously.  
  
"I thought you were out of the tournament, daddy! And isn't it a little…late?"  
  
"Oh, this is a private game. I'm playing Bob Pataki. And I rather like late games." Rhonda's eyes widened at that, not the "late games" part, but the Bob Pataki part, and she nearly smudged her nail polish. Nearly.  
  
"You mean Helga's dad?"  
  
"Yes. He recently acquired a lot of money. Not as much as us, of course, but almost. He seems very sure of his golfing skills." Rhonda was amazed that they got almost as much money as her parents have in one day.  
  
"How much money does he have?"  
  
"Oh, somewhere around 31 million. I'm not sure." Rhonda went back to doing her nails, but started considering something. Helga's family was rich, and that meant that Helga herself was….an equal? No. Maybe…she was obviously in her league now, but Rhonda Wellington Lloyd is still the most classy, and rich, kid around.  
  
"Well, goodbye daddy. Be sure and win!" She said, with a short laugh. If Bob DID win, she'd never hear the end of it from Helga, that's for sure.  
  
  
  
Helga and Bob got back to the mansion at the exact same time. How that happened, Helga didn't know, and neither did Bob. They walked up to the door, and put their hands on the doorknob at the exact same time. They suddenly noticed each other, and turned to stare.  
  
"WHAT are you doing out so late, little lady?"  
  
"I stay out late ALL the TIME, Bob, if you paid any attention you would know that! I just took a walk, that's all."  
  
Bob narrowed his eyes before replying, "I'd better not see you doing that again. It wouldn't look good for me if someone saw you running free-reign in the middle of the night, unsupervised. They might think I was a negligent father." Helga snorted at this, and proceeded to walk through the door. "I didn't hear you say 'yes', Olga!"  
  
"My name's HELGA!" And that last exclamation was all Bob got in the way of a "yes", and he didn't bother to pursue. Helga ran to the room of the house specifically identified as her place to sleep and put her things in, which was DEFINITELY not her room, and flopped on the bed. If she weren't so mad, she would probably appreciate the softness of the mattress, and the satin sheets. She grabbed a baseball, and threw it at the ceiling, playing catch with herself.  
  
"The NERVE of him! To actually think that he CARED about what I was doing was a very fleeting thought. He threw THAT in the garbage, and replaced it with the idea I've had since I was a kid, just like that. All he cares about is what his rich friends think of him. Bob is just a self-absorbed jerk, and I'm the accident that he never wants to think about." Helga threw the ball at the ceiling so hard that it made a dent, and then stopped. She turned on her side and wept.  
  
In the hallway outside, Bob was storming towards Helga's room. He was about to shout a tirade through the door, but an unexpected noise halted his actions. The sound of Helga's pitiful sobs came out through the cracks between the door and frame, and it stopped Bob cold. He had never heard Helga cry, not like that.  
  
He raised his arm to knock, but something held him back. Maybe it was that he didn't want to bother with it, or maybe he just didn't want to make her even worse. The latter was most likely, as he slowly walked back down the corridors to his room.  
  
He had never really thought about Helga too much. She seemed like the kind of person who could fend for herself, and hold her own without too much help. He just figured that he could school her, and then maybe he wouldn't have to give her much attention. Now he started to wonder.  
  
Had he really brought her to tears? Was he really that bad of a parent? What did he do? Olga turned out fine…..but Bob had paid much more attention to her than to Helga. Helga never seemed to care what Bob did, or thought, but now he wondered. Was she really the self-sufficient person he thought she was?  
  
Bob stared at the ceiling, as if it had the answers he reached for. After a few more hours of these thoughts, he finally drifted into slumber.  
  
Helga had heard him leave. She stared at the door, thinking maybe she had imagined it, but she knew she didn't. She stared out the window to the moon, and thought about his possible motives for coming, but the only reason she could come up with was that he came to rant some more. She wrinkled her face, and stubbornly tried to fall asleep. She didn't want to be too tired to seek and destroy Sid tomorrow. He's gonna be in for much more than just a locker-stuffing, that's for sure.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
^oo^ PIGGY!!!!!!  
-I. Krag 


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine  
  
  
  
The next morning, Helga woke up early, feeling very hungry. She walked out of her room, down the stairs, and took a left into the dining room where Miriam was making a smoothie and Bob was reading the paper and - WHUMP! "Hey, what's the deal? Oh….right. I'm in the mansion. Silly me." She said the last two words with the least amount of emotion she could, and woke up from her stupor. She had thought she was still inside her old house, and had run into the wall next to one of the servants' bedrooms. Before she could walk away, the door to the bedroom opened, and out walked the man who had delivered her the note, when it all began.  
  
"Helga? Was it you who...er…walked into my wall?"  
  
"Yeah, er, Mr. - "  
  
"Barkley. Morris Barkley."  
  
"Mr. Barkley - "  
  
"Please call me Murray. Everyone else does."  
  
"Alright, Murray, but I was just going to go get some breakfast, and - "  
  
"Is there something wrong?"  
  
"NO! That is…nothing is wrong. Not a thing. Nope." Helga blurted that out rather quickly, and Murray looked at her suspiciously.  
  
"Hmm. It's kind of hard for a person who's emotionally stable to walk into a wall at running speed."  
  
"I wasn't running!"  
  
"Oh, yes you were. To make that kind of a noise, you'd need to be walking rather briskly."  
  
"Oooh, THAT'S NOT THE POINT! Excuse me, Murray, but I'm pretty hungry, and - "  
  
"Master Robert's a bit testy, wouldn't you say?"  
  
"Robert…oh, Bob. What does that have to do with anything?"  
  
"I'd say it has to do with a lot. I do the late watch, you know."  
  
Helga stopped trying to walk away as the meaning of his comment dawned on her. "You were spying on us?"  
  
"It wasn't spying, Helga. It was hard NOT to hear you."  
  
Helga stared at him. What was his angle? What was he getting at? Her questions were answered when he continued speaking.  
  
"You know, there IS a back entrance to the house…and I'm always around. If a certain little girl who I happen to like asked me, I may be able to, er…open it, at certain hours of the day? Or, as the case may be, hours of the night?" Helga stared at him incredulously.  
  
"You'd do that for me?"  
  
"Of course. What's the fun of knowing all the entrances and exits of a mansion when you can't use them, eh?" Helga gave him an approving look. Then she held out her hand and cocked a sly smile.  
  
"Maybe this mansion isn't so bad after all, eh?" Helga started to walk away.  
  
"Say, you still haven't told me exactly what's wrong."  
  
Helga turned around and narrowed her eyes at him. "You know? You have a bad habit of interrupting people when they're trying to do something. Well, I'm not really sure what's wrong. I woke up, and thought I was still in my old house. I sort of, well, imagined I was going to the dining room to fix up a couple of waffles, and…" she pointed to the wall, "That's where the dining room door is. - was."  
  
Murray put a hand on her shoulder. Helga stared at it. "It'll be okay. You'll get used to it." And with that, he went back into his room, and shut the door. Helga shook her head, and walked to the dining room.  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, Arnold was waking up as well. The boarding house was far from quiet, and Arnold could hardly sleep any more with the noise. As he walked past the bathroom, he saw what the noise was, and rolled his eyes at it.  
  
"Hey, ya bum, it's MY turn to take a shower!"  
  
"No, it isn't! My turn!"  
  
"Ehehe, that's right, keep fighting, I'll just go take a shower…"  
  
"HEY!"  
  
Ernie and Mr. Hyunh dragged Oscar into one of their bedrooms and tossed him out the window. Arnold still shook his head and walked down to the kitchen.  
  
"Arr, Starbuck. Where ye been?" Grandma walked in, wearing a big, gaudy pirate suit. She continued, "Arr, I've got to catch the white whale! Man the harpoons!" She made what could be interpreted as a harpoon noise, and a big stack of pancakes landed on Arnold's plate. He stared at them for a second, and then started eating. At that point Grandpa walked in.  
  
"Hey, short man, what's cookin'?" Arnold sighed.  
  
"Nothing, Grandpa."  
  
"You look kinda down in the dumps, there! What's wrong?"  
  
Arnold gave him a meaningful look, and Grandpa's face fell.  
  
"Look, short man, you've got to stop dwelling on it! Your parents are gone, and you'll probably never see them again, and you're just going to have to accept that! Worrying and festering and moping and brooding will get you nowhere, and for that matter, will not get them back. Now I want you to put you chin up, and be glad for what you've got!" Arnold looked up at him, and then to Pirate Pookie, and then smiled.  
  
"You're right Grandpa. I gotta go to school. Thanks." He gave Grandpa a hug. When Arnold had left, Grandpa laughed.  
  
"Heh, heh, heh…I knew that'd work. Blunt truth, that's all. Pookie, get that pirate suit off…the hooks are starting to bother me."  
  
  
  
  
  
*__*  
U  
-I. Krag 


	10. Chapter Ten

Finally updated! Heh....took a while, eh? And no, HLT, Sid's not going to need a nose job....just an ice pack...or three. Heh.  
  
-I. Krag  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER TEN  
  
  
  
Helga walked into school that morning feeling refreshed and happy. Not only did she not have to worry about coming in late to her "house", she had the prospect of humiliating Sid. She took her seat, and put her feet up on the desk.  
  
"You look contented, Helga." Phoebe said, coming up behind her.  
  
"I sure am Pheebs. I don't know, maybe this mansion stuff is good for something. Say, Football Head looks pretty happy as well. It's a wonder either of us is happy after last - "  
  
Phoebe stared questioningly. Helga quickly changed the subject.  
  
"So, uh, have you seen Sid today?" Phoebe knew better than to pursue the old subject, so she complied.  
  
"Yes, Helga, he's sitting in his seat, where he normally is."  
  
"Oh...Right." Helga got up and walked over to Arnold. "So, Football Head. You seem pretty happy this morning."  
  
Arnold saw through the pitifully disguised question, and said, "Grandpa talked to me about it this morning. I think that I'm going to be okay." Helga looked visibly relieved.  
  
"Well. That's good. Uh...yeah. I'd better be going. Don't want to be late for class, eh? Yes...right. Sure. Bye, Ar - Football Head." Helga quickly got back to her seat. This "being nice" thing was harder than it looked. Arnold shook his head, amazed. At that point, Mr. Simmons walked in.  
  
"Hellooooo class!"  
  
"Hellomrsimmons...." The class mumbled.  
  
"I've got a surprise for you! I've set back the due date for the project!" Everyone in the room sighed audibly. "Yes, I know. You really need to have all the time you need to work on your "Special" Place Project!"  
  
"Well, Mr. Simmons, when IS it due?" Eugene asked.  
  
"Well, Eugene, that's up to you! You are going to help me choose the due date!"  
  
"I say we make it due in three weeks!" Harold said, laughing.  
  
"Gawrsh, why not make it four?" Stinky said. Mr. Simmons chuckled.  
  
"No, I want it due within the next week or so..."  
  
"How about next Friday?" Phoebe said.  
  
"Yeah, that's the day of the dance!" Sheena said.  
  
"Well, alright - "  
  
"Speaking of the dance, I hope it's being held somewhere...sanitary..." Rhonda said.  
  
"Well, if we can, we're holding it in Helga's mansion!" Mr. Simmons announced. Everyone turned to stare at Helga, and Helga shot an angry look to a bewildered Mr. Simmons. "I mean, if Helga wants to..." He trailed off and sat down, and everyone started talking, as usual. Arnold chanced a few glances back at Helga, but she was busy writing, and grumbling to herself.  
  
When lunchtime came around, she forced herself to be in a better mood by worsening Sid's. She got in line for lunch, behind Arnold, as usual, and Sid, Harold and Stinky took their place behind her. By the time Arnold had reached the chocolate pudding, there was only one left.  
  
"Outta my way, bucko!" Helga said, cackling, as she shoved Arnold out of the way and grabbed the pudding. Sid glared at her.  
  
"Oh, so now you're better than Arnold, huh? Only YOU deserve the last pudding because you're more "worthy" than him? Well - "  
  
"Oh, can it, Sid. I only grabbed the last one so that I could do this!" She punched Sid, and he fell to the ground. Then she took the pudding, and dumped it all over him, and as she was walking away, she went out of her way to step on him. The whole lunchroom laughed as Harold and Stinky picked him up off the ground, chortling as well. Sid just glared at them, and grabbed Nadine's pudding off her table and lobbed it at Helga. It hit home, right on her pigtails.  
  
Helga turned around and stampeded towards Sid, who started to run away.  
  
"FOOD FIGHT!!" Harold yelled, and tossed his pudding straight at Rhonda. She got it straight in the face. In no time at all, the whole lunchroom was tossing their food at each other, screaming delightedly, while Helga and Sid were rolling around the floor, pummeling each other. This went on for quite a while, before the doors were slammed open.  
  
"WHAT is going on in here?" Principal Wartz asked angrily. No one noticed him, and a hamburger was flung straight at his face. He wiped himself off, and barged through the crowd to Helga and Sid, who were sufficiently covered in bruises, and looked like the ringleaders of the riot. He dragged them out of the lunchroom and into his office.  
  
"I-I didn't do anything! She started the food fight, and then came at me like an angry dog, and - "  
  
"What are you talking about? You've been ticking me off all week, you were BEGGING to be beat up on!"  
  
"That'll be enough out of you two. Since I can't punish the whole school, as much as I'd like to, I'm giving you both a two week suspension." The two kids stared at each other.  
  
"WHAT? NO!" Helga said.  
  
"Please!" Sid yelled.  
  
"No. That's my final word. You suspension takes place starting tomorrow. You two are dismissed from my office." And with that, he shoved them out side, and slammed the door.  
  
"Look what you did now, Sid!"  
  
"Me? You gave me two black eyes!"  
  
"Yeah? Well where do you think these bruises on my arms came from, gremlins?"  
  
"It could happen!"  
  
"Oh shut up."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Helga walked home from school that day feeling a mixture of happiness and disgust. On one hand, she got to beat up Sid pretty nicely, and give him a couple shiners...but on the other hand, she got suspended, and now she won't be able to go to the dance. The only way she could, is if...she held it at her mansion.  
  
Suddenly, she turned a corner and ran straight into Arnold.  
  
"Hey, watch where you're going, Footba - I mean...s-sorry. I, uh, have to be going now." Helga tried to walk away, but Arnold stopped her.  
  
"I heard you got suspended. Tough break, huh."  
  
"Yeah, uh...it's not THAT bad, but...now I can't go to the dance. Not that I want to, or anything, but, you know, it limits my choices....yeah. Heh."  
  
"...right. Well, I'll see you, Helga."  
  
"Yeah. See ya...Football Head. And next time watch where you're going, you stupid buffoon!" Arnold sighed, and walked away.  
  
"Sure Helga." He said as he turned the corner. When he was gone, Helga ran behind a nearby dumpster and pulled out her locket.  
  
"Oh, Arnold, my love, my angel of reason, the keeper of my soul...why do I push you away? Why, even when I get so close, do I constantly have to tear away from you? Calling you names, pushing you, how you must hate me! How can I turn that around, how can I make you love me? How could I - " Suddenly, Helga heard a noise to the right of her, and instinctively sent her fist flying towards it, but she stopped it in mid punch. For the sound came from Phoebe.  
  
"Konnichiwa Helga. I...thought I heard noises back here, and presumed it was you."  
  
"Pheebs! Don't EVER sneak up on me like that again! I almost walloped you in the face!"  
  
"Yes, I ascertained that...Helga, the whole school now knows that you and Sid were suspended. That was a thoughtless act..."  
  
"But it made me feel better...for a bit."  
  
"Yes, for a bit." Helga got up, and brushed herself off, before walking down the street with Phoebe. Brainy peeked out from inside the dumpster, and wheezed as he watched them leave. Then he punched himself out, breaking his glasses and falling back into the filth in the dumpster.  
  
"You know Pheebs, I might just have to have the dance in my mansion." Phoebe nodded her head.  
  
"Yes, it seems that way, if you want to be able to be with, er...Ice Cream at the dance." Phoebe giggled, and Helga rolled her eyes.  
  
"Ah, he wouldn't hang around with me, and you know it Phoebe. He hates me."  
  
"It doesn't seem that way to me. You two were being civil."  
  
"Well...that's only because of the thing...."  
  
"Nan desuka? What thing?"  
  
Helga proceeded to tell her all about what happened the previous night at the bridge.  
  
"...and now I probably won't see him there ever again, because it seems as if he's sorted out his problems. What am I going to do?" Helga sighed and Phoebe patted her on the shoulder.  
  
"I'm sure you'll think of something Helga." 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven  
  
  
  
Helga rode the bus home, bruised and scraped in more places than one. She looked as if she had fallen into an automatic juicer. Arnold and Gerald were talking to Sid in the seat in front of them, and Sid was whining very loudly.  
  
"Man, oh man, Sid, you took a beating." Gerald said.  
  
"Yeah, HELGA nearly KILLED me. I was just standing there, in line, and she just suddenly starts POUNDING on me! I didn't do anything to her! Oh yeah, that's right, she's better than me now. She suddenly has a license to WHOMP on be because she's got money. Ha!"  
  
"Oh come on, Sid, it's not all Helga's fault. You WERE annoying her all week. I mean, just cause you're jealous doesn't mean you have an excuse to make someone's life miserable."  
  
"Me? JEALOUS? Of her? HA! Never. No way. She's just going out of her way to put me in the ICU! EEK!" Sid shrieked as Helga moved up to the seat behind Arnold and Gerald.  
  
"And besides, ol' long nose isn't making my life miserable. How could I let anything anyone, especially HIM, says, make a difference to me?" She said, casting a sideways glance at Arnold, who gave her a skeptical look.  
  
"Yeah, well…you're just an ugly, mean-hearted girl who got some money. That's all."  
  
"Mean-Hearted? Hardly."  
  
"You didn't disagree with the ugly part."  
  
"Oh, well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. Though who would believe a beholder like YOU, Sidney, is either extremely ignorant, or needs to be put in a straightjacket." Helga said 'Sidney' with extra malice, and Sid bristled.  
  
"Well….well…"  
  
"So long, this is my stop. See ya, Football Head, Hair Boy." She said, indicating Arnold and Gerald. "Bye Pheebs." She walked down the steps cockily, head held high. She paused to push some third grader out of the way, and then walked up the path to the mansion.  
  
"Lousy no-good bully…sometimes I wish I could just….UGH!" Sid said, mostly to himself, and partly out the window at the back of Helga's head. Arnold and Gerald exchanged a look.  
  
"Hey, Sid, don't you think you're takin' this a little TOO seriously? I mean, it's Helga. Nothin' to be worried about, she ALWAYS does this stuff to us!" Gerald said, trying to calm Sid down. It wasn't working.  
  
"That's the point, Gerald! We have to get her back for all she's done to us over the years! We have to strike! She walks on us like we were pavement, and what have we done to deserve it? Huh? What the heck did we do?" Sid asked, his voice rising.  
  
"A lot." Said Arnold. Gerald stared at him.  
  
"What are you talkin' about, Arnold?" he said, raising his left eyebrow. Phoebe calmly but quietly moved up to the seat behind them that Helga had left vacant.  
  
"I'm talking about all the times she's given us a chance to get to know her. She's opened up, if only for an instant, so many times, and none of us have really given her a second thought. She's not - "  
  
" - a bad person?" Sid interrupted, "Of course she is! Have you ever seen a nice person take advantage of someone smaller than them? Have you ever seen a nice person beat up an unsuspecting guy like me, just because?"  
  
"Oh, but of course the "Unsuspecting Guy" never does anything wrong, right? What about the time the "Unsuspecting Guy" accused another "Unsuspecting Guy" of stealing a ton of money, without sufficient evidence?"  
  
"Well…"  
  
"And what about the time the "Unsuspecting Guy" mooned the teacher? Or when he thought he blew up the police station? Or when - "  
  
"Alright, alright!" Sid cut him off, "It's true. I have done a few…misguided…things. But what Helga does is worse!"  
  
Arnold gave him a hard look. "Well, let's picture this, Sid. You grow up always overshadowed by an older sibling. Your parents can't get your name right. They never look at you when they don't have to. One of them is a selfish jerk, and the other is a hopeless smoothie-holic. They never had any faith in anything you did, and they yelled at you all the time. Sound familiar to you? Anything like your own childhood?"  
  
Sid blinked. "No. No it's not."  
  
"Precisely. What do you think would happen when you finally met some people your age? When you've been yelled at all your life, what do you know about good behavior? All you'd know is cruelty, because you'd have learnt it by example. How would you make friends? With such a rough exterior, how would you lure anyone close enough to see your true nature?"  
  
"What true nature, that she doesn't want to make me miserable, but she wants to kill me instead?" Sid interjected. Arnold shook his head.  
  
"No. Helga's good inside, I know because I've seen it. She's not just a bully. She's a living, breathing person, with compassion, love and feeling. She doesn't want to hurt any of us, but she's so afraid, so deathly afraid, that someone actually WOULD come close enough to see her true nature, that she'll endlessly build up her defenses until even SHE thinks that's what she's really like. All you're doing by hating her is perpetuating this whole situation, and pushing her farther away from all of us.  
  
"I know I can reach her. I've done it several times before, but she's always pulled away just as soon as I can penetrate her defenses and see her true self. But, truth be told, I've never really seen it in its entirety. It's like I've looked at it through a keyhole, but the door stays locked to everyone. I intend to unlock it, if it's the last thing I do. This is my stop. Come on Gerald. Goodbye, Sid." Arnold gave him one last look, and walked off the bus, Gerald in tow.  
  
Sid sat in his seat, dumbfounded. Whatever Helga had done to Arnold, it was messing with his mind.  
  
  
  
"Hello? Oh, hey Pheebs. Did you see the look on Sid's face? Oh, it was - what? Sorry, I can't hear you, let me switch ears…Bob, keep it down! Alright, what, Pheebs? Hey, talk slower, I can't understand you! Yes? Yes?  
  
"……ARNOLD SAID *WHAT*??"  
  
  
  
Sorry it's been a while, guys. REALLY sorry. Oh, well...I'm "Back in the Swing"! I know what's going to happen in the rest of the story! WHOO!  
-I. Krag 


End file.
